A longtime film critic for Time and the biographer of Clint Eastwood, Marlon Brando, Cary Grant, and Walt Disney, Richard Schickel conducted a four-hour interview with reclusive director Woody Allen in 2001 in order to produce a 90-minute television documentary. That interview is transcribed here, with a generous introductory essay, and places Allen's entire career into perspective.
"[The author] approaches his subject with an obvious admiration (Schickel immersed himself in studying every one of Allen's films), but manages not to engage in too much idol worship. The sit-down interview with the reclusive director is the most revealing section, filled with fresh glimpses into his films. There, readers learn that Annie Hall was originally called Anhedonia, until studio execs begged Allen to rename it; and that Allen sees very few of his films as artistic successes. The book's structure is quite rambling ... but real conversations are like that, and the book's lack of order doesn't prevent it from being a rare window into one of the great minds of modern cinema."—Publishers Weekly
"A compact but very real treasure. Mr. Schickel's introductory essay is so graceful and perceptive that it suggests a major reassessment of Woody's astonishing career lies just ahead."—Steven Bach
